Names such as Burk, Dutton, Free, Henderson, Stewart & Ward. "The experienced eyes of the landscape gardener saw in the rolling land, the creeks, the woodland, the magnificent river views and proximity to Philadelphia the locality he sought as the site for the new suburban town, Ridley Park, the geographical centre of Ridley Township."Ä«etween January and May of 1870, many farms were purchased and their namesakes continue to live on in the streets of Ridley Park. Robert Morris Copeland, a well-respected landscape architect from Boston, was contracted to recommend a site for a new town. It is called the "Darby Improvement" and Isaac Hinckley, president of the railroad, with a small group of investors, plans to develop the farmlands around the new routing, much as the "Main Line" that was created by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1860s. In 1870, the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore railroad made the decision to construct a new route from Philadelphia to Chester. It is understandable then, to realize why clean air & healthy conditions, free from malaria were important to the populous. Philadelphia is a bustling port with ships in and out bringing raw materials for the many textile mills, immigrants and disease to the city. The country is recovering from the Civil War where Pennsylvania's industrial enterprise and natural resources were essential factors in the economic strength of the northern cause. To understand the history of Ridley Park, you must first appreciate the era of the 1870s.
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